


what would you do (if you could do it all over)

by orphan_account



Category: Fullmetal Alchemist - All Media Types, Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood & Manga
Genre: Blind Character, F/M, POV Multiple, Slow Burn, Time Travel, Time Travel Fix-It
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-05-01
Updated: 2019-06-01
Packaged: 2020-02-10 16:18:20
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 9
Words: 10,472
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18663919
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: “It has come to my attention that I’ve made a mistake in taking your eyesight.” Despite the words, there wasn't even a hint of remorse in Truth’s tone. “So, of course, I must remedy this. Now I can’t give you your sight back, that’s not how equivalent exchange works. But I can offer you something better. How would you like to redo it all?”ORRoy Mustang and Riza Hawkeye get a chance to change the past for the better





	1. Chapter 1

Roy Mustang woke up somewhere that was definitely not where he fell asleep. For one thing, whatever he was lying on felt different from a hospital bed. It was somehow softer and harder at the same time. Additionally, while the air in the hospital room had felt stale and heavy, wherever Roy was currently located, the air was fresh and crisp.

 

Roy heard a groan coming from next to him, signaling to him that he wasn’t not alone. He tensed and brought his hands up into a clapping position.

 

“Colonel, it’s me.” The voice next to him said. Roy relaxed.

 

“Lieutenant. What’s going on? Where are we?” Roy pushed himself to his feet and extended a hand to Hawkeye. She took it, and didn’t let go of his hand even after standing up.

 

“I have no idea where we are sir. It seems to be a large white room. I see no one else here. There’s a large door approximately 30 feet away from us decorated with...” Hawkeye sounded surprised and confused. Roy squeezed her hand in reassurance. 

 

“What is it?”   
  


“The door, it has the symbols for flame alchemy on it.” 

 

As soon as she said that, Roy put everything together. A large white room, the door with the flame alchemy symbols. That was exactly what he had seen 16 days ago, when he had been forced to perform human transmutation. All that was missing was the monochrome fucker who had stolen his sight.

“Hello Roy Mustang and Riza Hawkeye. Welcome to the Gate of Truth.” Speak of the Devil. Roy shivered as the otherworldly voice reached his ears. He could picture the Truth in his mind, that strange white silhouette with a mouth full of razor sharp teeth.

 

Riza pulled her hand out of Roy’s. Presumably to reach for her holster. However, Roy knew she would find it empty, the hospital staff had made sure to get rid of all of their weapons. Including Riza’s guns and Roy’s ignition gloves.

 

“You’re both wondering why I summoned you here.” Roy could practically hear the bastard’s ever present, infuriatingly smug smile.

 

“Yes, if you could kindly explain.” Roy was proud of himself for managing to keep his anger out of his voice.

 

“It has come to my attention that I’ve made a mistake in taking your eyesight.” Despite the words, there wasn't even a hint of remorse in Truth’s tone. “So, of course, I must remedy this. Now I can’t give you your sight back, that’s not how equivalent exchange works. But I can offer you something better. How would you like to redo it all?”

 

“Re… redo it all?” If Truth was saying what Roy thought he was saying. Roy suddenly felt faint, and he reached out for something to steady himself with. Hawkeye took his hand and laced her fingers through his. Roy calmed down a little.

 

“Yes. I could send you back in time. Back before the Promised Day, before the deaths of Maes Hughes and Nina Tucker. You could save them, among others.”

 

Roy flinched at the names and the reminders they carried. “But what about equivalent exchange? What would you get out of it?”

 

“Like I said, I made a mistake. Also, while this ending is fine, it isn’t the best one this timeline could’ve achieved, and I’m curious to see how you’d improve it. Or ruin it.”

 

“Why am I here?” Hawkeye spoke up for the first time since Truth had arrived. “What do I have to do with this?”

 

“I wouldn’t dream of separating the Colonel from his dear Lieutenant. If he accepts then he’ll need to take you along.” Truth sounded almost amused. “Speaking of which Roy Mustang, do you accept or not?”

 

Roy paused for a moment and thought it over. He squeezed Hawkeye’s hand twice, silently asking “should I do this?”

 

Hawkeye squeezed his hand once to reply “I think you already know the answer.”

 

Roy took a deep breath and exhaled slowly. “I accept.” 

 

“Excellent.” The Truth seemed satisfied.

 

The last thing Roy felt before losing consciousness was the overwhelming sensation of falling.


	2. Chapter 2

Riza jolted awake. She was confused for a second, wondering why she wasn’t in the hospital, before everything came back to her. Roy had told Riza about his experience in the Gate, and how unsettling it was. But the descriptions were nothing when compared to how it had actually felt. The Truth had stood there and smiled at them, and though his bared grin was creepy, what Riza had been frozen in place by were those eyes. They were unmistakably Roy’s eyes, dark and unrelenting. She shivered as she remembered how wrong they had looked on someone who wasn’t him.

 

Riza pushed away her thoughts and started to assess the situation. The Colonel was next to her, he seemed to be slowly stirring awake. She scanned his body and was satisfied to find no apparent injuries. Riza looked around to ascertain their location.

 

They were in the team’s room in the Eastern Command Center. It had only been a few months since Riza had seen it, but with all that had happened it felt like much longer. Team Mustang was scattered throughout the office. Fuery was fiddling with some piece of technology, Falman was diligently doing his paperwork, Breda was reading a report while whistling a random tune, and Havoc was leaning back in his chair and smoking a cigarette.

 

Interestingly enough, the past version of Riza was nowhere to be found. She must have had a day off.

 

Riza and Roy were in a shadowy corner of the room. That was probably why none of the team had noticed them yet. She wondered what they should do next. Should they inform the team, would they even be believed. Time travelers from the future was such a fantastical story.

 

The sudden sound of yelling put Riza on guard. It seemed to be coming from the Colonel’s office. She listened closely, but relaxed when she heard the words.

 

“WHO ARE YOU CALLING SO LITTLE THAT HE MIGHT AS WELL BE A SUBATOMIC PARTICLE.” So Edward was here, that was good. He’d been through the Gate himself, so he might not be so quick to dismiss what they were saying.

 

The yelling must have jerked Roy back into the waking world. He sat up with a startled expression.

 

“Lieutenant, are we really….” He didn’t finish the question, but Riza knew what he wanted to ask.

 

“Yep. Right now we’re in Eastern Command. Fuery, Falman, Breda, and Havoc are all present in this room. Your past version is arguing with Edward in your office. It looks like my past version is absent today. I currently have no weapons on my person.”

 

Roy grinned and got to his feet, making sure to stick to the shadows. Riza did the same. She glanced around to see if anyone had noticed their discussion, but they all seemed to be too busy eavesdropping on the fight taking place in the office.

 

“What should we do sir?”

 

“I think, we better introduce ourselves to them.”

 

“But will they believe us?” Roy seemed to notice the worry in Riza’s voice. He flashed her a reassuring smile.

 

“We’ll make them believe us.” He looked as determined as he had when he’d first told her of his plans to become Fuhrer. Seeing him now, Riza remembered that day.

 

_It had been a particularly hellish week in Ishval. Their assignment had been to wipe out a whole district, and they’d finally completed it. The snipers and the State Alchemists had done most of the dirty work. Trapping and picking off Ishvalans and destroying buildings. The higher ups had claimed it was necessary in order to get rid of insurgents, but so many civilians had died. Not for the first time, Riza wondered why they were fighting this war._

 

_She spotted Roy sitting off to the side of the camp. He was staring into the distance with a dull look in his eyes. She quietly sat next to him. After a few minutes of silence, he spoke._

 

_“This is wrong. You know it too, don’t you?” He looked to her, and she nodded her head in confirmation. She didn’t need to ask what “this” was._

 

_“It is, but what can we do about it? If we objected to orders, they’d just send us away and find others to fill our places.” The words left a bad taste in Riza’s mouth._

 

_“We can’t do anything now, but after this is all over, we can do our part to make sure it never happens again. Bradley has not done a good job leading Amestris, he is the cause of this genocide.” Roy’s eyes had a fire in them now. Riza realized what he wasn’t saying._

 

_“You think you could do a better job?”_

 

_“I know I could.” Roy’s voice was as hard as flint. Suddenly he sighed and seemed to curl in on himself. “What do you think?” He asked, sounding vulnerable._

 

_Riza didn’t reply verbally. Instead, she just lay her head on his shoulder._

 

“What are you thinking about?” Roy’s voice pulled her out of her memory. She must not have spoken in a while.

 

“It’s not important.” Riza silently prepared herself for what was about to happen. “Alright, let’s do this.”

 

Roy held out a hand and she grabbed it. Together they stepped out of the shadows. The team didn’t notice them at first, Edward and past Roy were still arguing. Riza cleared her throat loudly. Everyone turned to look at her and Roy.

 

“Lieutenant Hawkeye, what are you doing here? The hospital really discharged you this early?” Havoc was the first one to speak. “And wait is that you Colonel?” He looked at the closed office door, where past Roy’s was taunting Edward. “How is this possible?”

 

“It’s a long story.” Roy’s face was calm, but she felt his hand was twitching nervously in hers. “It would be better explained in the office.”

 

He took half a step before pausing. Riza immediately understood the cause of his hesitation.

 

“Just follow my lead.” She whispered so no one else in the room could hear. She walked towards the office, keeping Roy’s hand in hers the entire time. When she reached it, she glanced back for a moment and saw the team standing a few feet away. Havoc still looked very confused, and Fuery had gone white with shock. Falman and Breda seemed to be handling the situation better, both of them were staring Roy and Riza suspiciously.

 

Riza turned back to the office door. She paused for just a second before pulling it open.

  
  



	3. Chapter 3

Roy was having an absolutely fucking terrible day.

 

The Lieutenant was still in the hospital for the injuries she’d obtained on their last mission. Their assignment was to hunt down a former State Alchemist. The man, who the Fuhrer had dubbed “the Green Alchemist” for his prowess at manipulating plants, had disappeared a few years ago and been presumed dead. That is, until he turned up in East City a week ago. The military had sent Roy to question him, and of course Hawkeye had come along. When they arrived, they found the man in the midst of a horrible experiment. He was attempting to create a child-venus flytrap hybrid. It still made Roy sick to think of it.

 

Hawkeye and Roy had hurried into the room, determined to stop the experiment. However, they’d failed to notice that the man had a gun. By the time they saw it, it was too late. Riza had already been shot twice. When Roy saw her lying unconscious on the ground, something in him twisted. He snapped his fingers and incinerated all of the Green Alchemist’s precious plants. The man fell to the ground in anguish, while the kid he had abducted scurried away. Roy’d arrested the Alchemist, and gotten Hawkeye to the hospital in record time. The doctors told him that if he’d been any later, she might not have survived. And that it would be two weeks before the Lieutenant could be released.

 

So Roy had already been on edge because of a whole week spent without his Lieutenant, but it had been bearable. Things went from bad to worse when Fullmetal walked in with a mission report.

 

Roy’s head throbbed as he tried to decipher the boy’s handwriting. After a few more minutes of poring over the report, he managed to get the gist of it.

 

It seemed the mission had been a success. The Elric brothers had managed to kill the Chimera attacking the town they’d been sent to, as well as repair all damages. Roy breathed a sigh of relief. He wouldn’t have to fill out endless stacks of paperwork, like he did when the Elrics caused huge amounts of destruction. Which was something that happened very often.

 

Roy had been so caught up in his relief, that he had somehow managed to forget Fullmetal’s height insecurities. So without thinking, he had said, “I’m actually pretty glad that, even considering your short temper-”

 

Fullmetal had started yelling then. Roy’s headache, which had mostly faded, came back in full force, and he’d yelled back.

 

After a few minutes, Roy’s office door swung open. He and Fullmetal had paused in their argument, and Roy had turned to look at the entrance. He had expected to see one of his subordinates, maybe Havoc or Breda asking him to sign something. Instead, standing in Roy’s doorway was a man who looked exactly like him, holding hands with a woman who could have been Lieutenant Hawkeye’s identical twin.

 

Roy’s eyes widened as he took in the strangers. He inched closer to his desk, where he kept his ignition gloves. The random arrival of two people closely resembling him and the Lieutenant probably wasn’t a good thing, and he wanted to be prepared for ~~when~~  if things went wrong. He looked over to where Fullmetal was standing frozen with his mouth hanging open. It seemed something had finally been able to render the older Elric brother speechless.

 

Roy switched his gaze back to the strangers. The woman was quietly saying something to the man. The man was nodding along with a small smile.

 

As soon as Roy was done pulling his gloves over his hand, he addressed the couple.

 

“Who are you? Why do you look like me and Hawkeye?”

 

The man looked at a spot somewhere over Roy’s shoulder.

 

“It’s a long story. It would be better if everyone was here to hear it.” He gestured outside the office to where Roy could see the team staring.

 

Roy wanted to say no. It seemed suspicious that the man wanted everyone in one place at the same time. But if this was something important, the whole team needed to be informed. And besides, it would be better to have more backup than the still gaping Fullmetal. Roy nodded and called everyone in.

 

The members of the team all took a seat somewhere in the office. The woman who looked like Riza seemed to be leading the man to the couch. Roy thought that it was a bit odd. The man bumped into a box that was clearly in his line of sight, and Roy realized what he’d been missing.

 

“You’re blind.” The stranger nodded and sat down at the edge of the couch with the woman.

 

“Yes. You could call it the toll I paid. Though I suppose I got lucky, Truth could have taken a lot more.” The words seemed to shake Fullmetal out of his stupor.

 

“So you saw the Truth, that means you did it.” Elric’s tone was almost accusing.

 

“Yes. But not willingly. I never would have done it willingly. However, unluckily for me, I had no choice in the matter.”

 

“But you still had to pay a price? Even though you didn’t want to do it” The accusing tone was replaced with a confused one.

 

“I suppose that’s just how the Truth works.”

 

“But it’s not fair.”

 

“It’s not.” And it was strange for Roy to see someone who looked like him agreeing with Fullmetal. “But it’s the way it is.”

 

“It shouldn’t be.”

 

“Equivalent exchange doesn’t care about ‘should’ and ‘shouldn’t’.”

 

At this point, Roy had to admit that he had no idea what the conversation was about.

 

“Fullmetal. What is this ‘it’ that you’re discussing.” The boy stared down at his gloves for a few seconds before looking at Roy with haunted eyes.

 

“Human transmutation.” Roy carefully controlled his expression, making sure not to let his surprise show,

 

“Well then,” he motioned to the strangers, “You should start your story.”

 

“Alright,” The man paused for a second and turned to the woman next to him, “Where should I start?”

 

“I believe the beginning would be a good place sir.” The ‘sir’ didn’t escape Roy’s notice.

 

“Alright, the beginning,” The stranger turned back to face the rest of the group, “Well I suppose everything really began centuries ago in Xerxes. There was a young man named Van Hohenheim whose blood was used in an experiment.”

 

“Wait,” Fullmetal interrupted, “What are you talking about. That bastard sure as hell wasn’t alive that long ago.”

 

“I’ll get to that later, but I’d like to tell my story with minimal interruption.” Elric made an angry noise, but didn’t speak any further.

 

“Right, so as I was saying. The man’s blood was used in an experiment to create a creature. The creature was called Homunculus. Now, the King of Xerxes was a man who greatly desired immortality, and Homunculus claimed he knew the way to achieve it. Make a Philosopher’s Stone.” Fullmetal perked up at the mention of the object he’d spent the last few years searching for.

 

“I doubt any of you will want to hear it, but the way to make a Philosopher’s stone is quite… gruesome. The ingredients for a Philosopher’s stone are live humans.” Roy was shocked, and looking around at everyone else, he could tell they were too. Elric looked devastated, the one chance he had of getting his brother’s body back had just been completely ruined.

 

The man continued. “The King decided he was going to sacrifice the population of Xerxes to make the Stone and become immortal. He created a giant transmutation circle around the country in order to achieve this. But when the day came to do the transmutation, it turned out Homunculus had tricked the King. Instead of the King becoming immortal, Homunculus and Hohenheim did. Hohenheim was enraged over what happened, and he and Homunculus parted ways.”

 

“I’m not exactly sure what happened for a while after that. But I do know that at some point, Homunculus became obsessed with becoming God. He decided the best way to do this was to repeat what he’d done in Xerxes on a larger scale. At the same time, a small country named Amestris had recently been founded. Homunculus brought Amestris alchemy and it soon conquered lands and amassed power and influence until it grew to be a country with fifty million people.”

 

“There are certain places in our country that are stained with blood due to events that have transpired there. Riviere, Cameron, Fiske, Wellesley, South City, Ishval,” The stranger looked regretful, “And in the future, Liore and Briggs.”

 

“These crests of blood, along with a tunnel currently being dug under Amestris, form a nationwide human transmutation circle.”  


A loud thud was heard. Roy looked to the source, and saw that Fuery had fallen off his chair. Roy couldn’t blame him, the statement had shaken him as well.

 

“Another thing you should know is that Homunculus aimed to become a perfect being by ridding himself of all his flaws. He made seven creatures, which he called Homunculi. They each embodied one of humanity’s sins. Pride, Wrath, Sloth, Lust, Gluttony, Envy, and Greed. He must have thought of them as his children, since, from then on, he called himself Father.”

 

“All of you are probably wondering where I come into this. The truth is I managed to get myself mixed up in it completely unintentionally. Before I go on, there’s something crucial that I have to share.”

 

The man looked almost nervous now. Roy could tell that whatever he would say next was very important.

 

“Previously, you asked who I was. The truth is, my name is Roy Mustang,” He pointed to the woman next to him, “This is Riza Hawkeye. We’re from the future.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> At this point you may be thinking "Why Eli, you have a huge plot hole right in your story. There's no way Roy could have known about Xerxes." My answer to that is that Ed told him while they were all in the hospital. If you want to see something in this story in the future, now is the time to tell me in the comments.


	4. Chapter 4

For some reason, Roy felt like laughing. A strange man arriving randomly with a borderline unbelievable story, and claiming to be Roy’s future self. This sort of stuff could only ever happen to him. And Hawkeye, he mused. After all, the woman sitting on the couch was supposedly the future Lieutenant. Roy really didn’t know what to do.

 

Luckily for him, Falman apparently did. The Warrant Officer sat up in his chair, his eyes narrowed even more than usual. “Prove it.” The words echoed in the silent room.

 

‘Possibly Roy’ nodded. “Alright.” He turned to ‘Might be Hawkeye.’

 

“How should I do this? I don’t have my gloves, and I doubt that anyone would let me borrow a lighter, so showing them my alchemy is out.”

 

‘Maybe Hawkeye’ looked thoughtful. “I could show them my….” She trailed off and touched her back, a look of dread clear on her face.

 

‘Could be Roy’ shook his head. “No, I’m sure there’s another way.... Oh I know, I’ll just say something that only I know. Then past me will realize we are who we say. Ok.” He raised his voice slightly.

 

“Mini-me, do you remember when you were around five and Madame Christmas took you to a carnival in Central? Well you obviously remember, or else I wouldn’t. But I digress. So, at the carnival you somehow got lost. A police officer saw you and tried to help you, but you were scared, so you just kicked him in the shins and ran. Finally Madame found you on top of the ferris wheel, screaming your head off since you were afraid of heights. You have no idea how you even got onto it.” 

 

Roy was stunned. He knew he hadn’t shared that story with anyone. And even though Madame remembered, he had never told her about the police officer part. That left only one option. Roy changed the man’s label in his mind from ‘Says he’s Roy but might be lying’ to ‘Future Roy.’

 

Roy looked up to notice everyone looking at him for confirmation. He nodded and turned back to Future Roy. “Now that we know who you are, you should continue with your story.”

 

A relieved grin broke out on Future Roy’s face. He looked as if a huge weight had been taken off his chest. “Right. I first got involved with the plan, albeit unknowingly, when I joined the military’s State Alchemist program. All of you here know what happened in Ishval. The killing of innocent civilians by State.” His voice broke, Future Riza let go of his hand so she could lay her head on his shoulder. “By State Alchemists. Well as I mentioned before, Ishval is one of the points on the nationwide transmutation circle, and the only reason we were sent in was to carve out a crest of blood there.”

 

“After the amount of death was deemed sufficient, we were all sent home. Fast forward a few years, I met two boys who’ve attempted human transmutation.” Fullmetal made a strange noise at this. “I recruited them for the military so they would be able to find a way to get their bodies back. Three years later, everything I’ve previously mentioned came together.”

 

“Intel came in that a Priest in the town of Liore may have obtained a Philosopher’s Stone. I sent the Elric brothers to investigate. When they returned they told me that while they had exposed the Priest’s manipulation of his followers, the stone was a fake. A few days later, Liore descended into riots. Eastern forces were sent in to calm them down, and it worked for a while. But when the Central forces replaced the Eastern ones, Liore grew worse and worse. The town almost destroyed itself completely. It was only revealed to us later that the Homunculi, and by extension Father, were behind what happened.”

 

“How, you may wonder, were the Homunculi able to influence the military in this way. The answer is that Fuhrer Bradley is the Homunculus Wrath.”

 

Roy should have been surprised, but of all the crazy things he’d heard, this one somehow seemed the most believable.

 

“Now, in the interest of time I’ll skip ahead a little. We managed to find out Father’s plan, as well as when he was going to activate the human transmutation circle. He called this day the ‘Promised Day.’ We made our own plan in order to stop his from happening. I’ll spare you the minute details, but it involved a  coup d'état, a reverse transmutation circle, and an ice cream truck filled with weapons.”

 

“As for father’s plan, it was to use five sacrifices to activate his nationwide transmutation circle and become God. The sacrifices had to be Alchemists who had attempted human transmutation, and consequently seen the Truth. The sacrifices they already had were the Elric brothers, Van Hohenheim, and Izumi Curtis.” Fullmetal’s face blanched at the last name.

 

“They were missing one, and I just happened to be in the wrong place in the wrong time. I was trapped and forced to commit human transmutation. Which is how this happened.” Future Roy pointed to his eyes.

 

“We finally managed to defeat Father after a long battle. The Lieutenant and I had been in the hospital recovering when Truth gave us the chance to come back in time and change things for the better. Which brings us to where we are now. There’s a lot more you need to know, but you’re probably overwhelmed already, so I’ll tell you as it becomes relevant.” To anyone else, Future Roy would have looked genuine. But Roy knew himself. There was something Future Roy was hiding, something that he didn’t want to tell them. Roy decided that he’d interrogate the man about whatever it was later.

 

A few minutes passed before someone spoke up.

 

“Well boss that’s a lot to unpack. So I’m not even going to try right now. However, we do have an urgent matter to take care of,” Havoc was leaning back in his chair, smirking, “What do we call you. We can’t call present you and future you the same thing. And calling one of you your name and the other ‘future your name’ is gonna get old real quick.”   
  


Roy considered it. “You’re right Havoc. Any suggestions people?”

 

Roy knew asking was a mistake as soon as Fullmetal opened his mouth. Pointing to Roy he said, “We can call you ‘bastard’.” Pointing to Future Roy he said, “And we can call you ‘bastard squared’, since you’re probably even worse.”

 

Future Roy just grinned. “Bold words coming from someone who’s half the height of a normal person.”

 

“WHO ARE YOU CALLING A SPECK OF DUST SHAPED PIPSQUEAK WHO NEEDS ANTS TO CARRY HIM AROUND.”

 

“That’s obviously not what I said, you need to clean your ears. Or can you not hear me from down there?”   
  


“You manipulative, good for nothing Colonel with delusions of grandeur. I should-”

 

“That’s enough boys.” Future Hawkeye’s tone was cool with a hint of steel. It immediately shut both Fullmetal and Future Roy up. “Now,” She continued, “We’ll call the versions of us who belong to this time Riza and Roy. We’ll call us, the ones who are from the future, Hawkeye and Mustang. Sound good everyone?”

 

None of them dared to say no.

 

“There are other things to take care of. You two will need a place to stay.” Breda spoke up for the first time since entering the room. “And the higher ups know about all of our safe houses. So until we can acquire new ones, you’ll have to bunk somewhere else.”

 

“What about Madame Christmas’ place. No, we could be spotted by a patron. The barracks are obviously too risky. And we can’t trust any of the State Alchemists. I’m at a loss.” Mustang hung his head in defeat.

 

“You guys could stay with Hughes. I’m sure he’d be on board if we explained the situation.” At Roy’s suggestion, a look of incredible pain crossed Mustang’s face. It was there and gone in a second, but Roy had seen it. Obviously something had happened with Hughes. Something catastrophic. 

 

Roy stood up and marched over to the couch, ready to demand answers from Mustang. It had to have been terrible, and Roy needed to know that what he suspected was wrong. That one of his worst fears wasn't going to come true. However, as soon as he opened his mouth, the door to the office was swung wide for the second time that day. 

 

In walked Major Armstrong.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Now that all the exposition is finally over, the plot will pick up next chapter.


	5. Chapter 5

Mustang heard the door of swing open. Somebody walked in, but Mustang couldn’t tell exactly who it was.

 

“Hello Major Armstrong. May I ask why you’ve come to East City” Ah, so it was Armstrong. It would be hard to hide the truth from the extremely perceptive man, but they had to try. The more people who knew, the more risk there was of an enemy finding out.

 

“Good afternoon Colonel. I was sent on a mission at the border, and when I heard Lieutenant Hawkeye was in the hospital, I decided to come by and visit her.”

 

Mustang heard Armstrong turn. He was probably looking at Mustang and Hawkeye now. “Although if what I’m seeing is correct, she’s been discharged. And there are two of you now.”

 

“Well, you see… um.” Mustang decided to help his younger self out.

 

“My name is Paul Johnson. I’m from South City.”

 

“Nice to meet you Mr. Johnson. I would like to inquire into your resemblance to Colonel Mustang.”

 

“Yes of course, you see....” ‘What the hell,’ Mustang thought, ‘go big or go home.’

 

“When I was very young, too young to remember, my parents and I got into a car accident. My parents died and I lost my sight. Afterwards, I was sent to an orphanage. The Johnsons adopted me when I was seven and I grew up in their care. After attending university, I became a florist and started my own shop. Recently, I managed to remember my parents’ names. I looked them up in the public records, and found out that I have a still living brother in East. Of course I just had to rush over.” Mustang knew Armstrong had noticed his lack of a South City accent, but he also knew the man was too polite to call him out on it.

 

“What a wonderful tale Mr. Johnson. Such hardship, but such courage as well. And finally two long lost brothers reunited.” Mustang was sure that the man was surrounded by his inexplicable sparkles.

 

“And Lieutenant, you’re all better?” Armstrong addressed Hawkeye.

 

“Yes Major, I’m good as new.”

 

“Well then, I’ll be taking my leave. I must report my findings back to Central. The information I’ve gained is very... odd, you see.” And with that cryptic statement, Mustang heard Armstrong walk out of the office and shut the door.

 

“That was a close one,” Roy sounded grim, “We should get you to Hughes’ place as soon as possible. We can’t risk you being spotted on a train, so Havoc will be driving you.”

 

“Yes sir.” Hawkeye grabbed Mustang’s hand. They stood up and followed Havoc outside.

 

Havoc led them to what was presumably his car. After setting out, nobody talked for a few minutes. Havoc finally broke the silence.

 

“So boss, you were kind of vague when you told us about the future. Didn’t say anything about specific people. So what I wanna know is what happens to me. Do I get promoted? Do I get a long term girlfriend?”

 

Mustang thought of Havoc lying on the floor of the military laboratory, hovering near death. He remembered the look in Havoc’s eyes when he had told them he could no longer walk and pleaded with Mustang to let him be discharged. And Mustang recalled hearing Havoc’s voice over the line on the Promised Day, helping even though he couldn’t be on the front lines like he used to.

 

Thinking of all this, Mustang found it very hard to answer Havoc’s question. Hawkeye squeezed his hand and answered for him.

 

“Second Lieutenant Havoc, we all know there’s no way that would happen.”

 

“Hey! I’ll have you know I almost got married once. It was to this girl, Denise was her name I believe. She worked at a bakery and would make the best cookies you’d ever tasted. They were chocolate with….”

 

They listened to Havoc’s stories about his disastrous love life for the next few hours until they got to Hughes’ house. Mustang braced himself for the presence of his dead best friend, alive again. They got out of the car and walked up to the door. Havoc rang the doorbell and they waited.

 

“I’ll get it.” Hughes voice called from inside the house.

 

Mustang shivered as he thought of a family portrait laying on the floor of a phone booth, soaked with blood. He could feel Hawkeye’s hand shaking as well.

 

“Hey, what are you guys doing here? Come in, Come in.”

 

“Nah I can’t stay,” Havoc sounded regretful, “But I got to drop these two off. They’re the Colonel and Lieutenant, but not as we know them. You see, they’re from the future.”

 

Hughes was silent for a moment before softly laughing. “Of course, something like this would obviously happen to Roy. I assume this means you’ve decided they’re staying with me.”

 

“Yep. I gotta be off. Oh yeah one more thing, we’re calling the regular Colonel and Lieutenant by their first names, and we’re calling the future ones by their last names.”

 

“Alright, then come in Mustang and Hawkeye.”

 

As soon as they entered the house, Mustang felt something small grab onto his leg.

 

“Uncle Roy!” Elicia released him and grabbed hold of Hawkeye. “Auntie Riza!”

 

Hughes cooed over his daughter. “Elicia honey, Uncle Roy and Auntie Riza will be staying with us for a bit.”

 

“Yay.” Elicia sounded overjoyed. “Uncle Roy, what happened to your eyes.” She must have noticed his blindness.

 

Mustang had no idea how to explain the whole thing to a toddler. He tried to figure out a way to phrase his answer that wouldn’t end up giving Elicia nightmares.

 

Hughes had apparently noticed his hesitation. “Elicia sweetie, that might be a bit personal.”

 

“No, it’s fine Hughes.” Mustang carefully formulated his response. “There was a very bad man that wanted to hurt Amestris. So I had to stop him, he didn’t like that, so he took away my eyesight. But me and my friends managed to stop him anyways.” There. That was kid friendly enough, right?

 

Elicia seemed to think this meant Mustang needed a hug. She grabbed onto his legs for the second time and wouldn’t let go. Hughes just laughed at the sight.

 

A few minutes later, Mustang, Hawkeye, and Hughes were all seated in the living room. Hughes had briefly explained the situation to Gracia, who had just taken it in stride and made tea for the three of them.

 

“So Mustang, it seems that, like usual, trouble has followed you.”   
  


“What do you mean?”

 

“Well around a week ago there was a disturbance near the Eastern border. I can’t say much about it, given that I don’t even really understand what happened. Apparently a man was running around using Alchemy to cause destruction. He almost decimated a whole town just by clapping his hands, before disappearing. We sent Armstrong in to investigate, and he reported what he found about an hour ago. He says that witnesses claimed the man kept shifting between a human form and a form that looked like a shadow covered in eyeballs.”

 

Mustang took a sharp breath. He was trembling.

 

“It can’t be,” Riza spoke, “He’s dead. Edward killed him. There’s no way it could be him.”

 

“Who are you talking about?” Hughes sounded worried.

 

Mustang tried to calm himself. “Father,” he whispered.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I won't be posting a chapter tomorrow since it's my birthday


	6. Chapter 6

Hawkeye could barely breathe as memories flooded in. She remembered what had happened on the Promised Day. How she had almost been killed by that gold toothed doctor. How the Homunculi had tried to use her life to convince Mustang to perform human transmutation. And how, when Mustang had refused, he had been pinned down and forced to do it anyways. They had all been used as pawns in the world’s shittiest game of chess. And now the man responsible was here with them.

 

“Who’s Father. And why can I hear the capital letter?” Hughes voice broke into her thoughts. Hawkeye realized that neither she nor Mustang had spoken for the last few minutes. She looked over to Mustang to see if he was going to respond, but he seemed lost in a memory. That left the explanation to Hawkeye. Great.

 

She quickly recounted what they had told everyone in Eastern Command. Hughes looked slightly confused, but he seemed to get the gist of it. As she talked, Hawkeye realized the real reason she and Mustang had been sent back in time. It wasn’t, as Truth had said, because he believed he was wrong in taking Mustang’s eyesight. It was so that they could take care of Father. Speaking of which, Hawkeye had some questions about the situation.

 

“Why wasn’t Eastern Command notified of something like this happening in their jurisdiction?”

 

Hughes looked a bit guilty. “Reports came into Central first, and the Fuhrer told us to keep this under wraps. Which I suppose makes sense, considering that he was apparently created by this ‘Father.’ But I was just about to call Roy when you guys arrived.” 

 

Hawkeye questioned Hughes about details until Gracia called for him. Apparently while they had been talking, it had somehow become dinnertime, and Hughes needed to set the table. After he left the room, Hawkeye turned to Mustang.

 

“Sir, you’ve been strangely quiet. I would’ve thought you’d want to know everything about the real reason we’ve been sent back in time.”

 

“Yeah, I’ve been thinking about that. What will happen after we defeat the Father from our time. At least I assume he’s from our time. But I digress. So, when it’s all done, will we still get a chance to change our past. Or will Truth just send us back.” Mustang’s voice had a slight tremor, Hawkeye was only able to detect him since she had known him for so long.

 

“I don’t believe so. You Alchemists believe in equivalent exchange, right? Well maybe that’s his equivalent exchange to us. We take care of his problem, and in doing so, we get to take care of our own as well.” 

 

Mustang smiled at her words, and Hawkeye felt her heart flutter a little. 

 

“You always know what to say. That’s one of the reasons I-”

 

“Uncle Roy. Auntie Riza. Dinner’s ready. Come on, mommy made pasta.” Elicia ran in and jumped on Hawkeye, practically vibrating with excitement. Hawkeye smiled at her and they all got up to go to the kitchen.

 

Sitting around the kitchen table, Elicia launched into a story about her day. While Hughes hung onto every word of playground rivalries and candy giving teachers, Hawkeye didn’t really pay attention. That is until a certain detail caught her attention.

 

“So then, Chloe’s mommy took us all to the ice cream shop. And when we passed the library I saw a really tall guy sitting outside. He had a huge scar on his face. It looked like this,” Elicia crossed her fingers to make an X, “He looked really sad for some reason. I guess they didn’t let him into the library because it’s for Stafe Alcheemists.” Her brow furrowed as she tried to pronounce the words. Hughes cooed at the sight. “He must’ve really wanted to read the books there. I wonder if he’s read the Secret Garden. Ms. Smith started reading it to us today and….”

 

Mustang grabbed Hawkeye’s hand and squeezed. She knew that he had also caught what Elicia said. So that meant Scar, with his combination of Alchemy and Alkahestry was here. He could help them defeat Father, like he did the first time around.

 

‘He also tried to kill us the first time around.’ Riza thought to herself. Scar probably wouldn’t want to work with the Flame Alchemist and the Hawk’s Eye, two of the major participants in the Ishval War. After all, he had tried to kill Edward, who hadn’t even fought in the war, simply for being a State Alchemist. The only reason they’d work together before was because circumstances had forced them to.

 

She sighed and looked at her hand in Mustang’s. It calmed her somewhat. ‘One thing at a time.’ She reminded herself. First they needed to come up with a plan.

 

After dinner, Hawkeye and Mustang retired to the guest room. It hadn’t even been a question of whether or not they’d be staying in the same room. Though they would definitely be sleeping in different beds. Hawkeye felt a pang of sadness at that, but she made sure to smother it.

 

Laying in her bed, Hawkeye’s mind was too active to get to sleep. And judging by Mustang’s uneven breathing, he wasn’t sleeping either.

 

“Sir, what should we do?” She turned over to face him. The moonlight illuminated his silhouette. 

 

“I don’t know. What can we do? Talking to Scar will only make him angry, but we may need him if we’re going to take on Father. I suppose we’ll have to try. Last time it took a whole host of people to defeat Father. This time it’s only the two of us. Maybe three if Scar can abide us long enough to help. This feels hopeless. What do we have?”

 

Hawkeye badly wanted to reach out for him, but she stopped herself. She thought for a few moments before answering. “We have people who love us. We have friends and family. People who would help us if we just asked. Our team, Hughes, even Edward and Alphonse. And most importantly, we have each other. I made a promise to you once. That I would stay with you no matter what. I intend to keep that promise. And if I know you at all, Roy Mustang, I know that you’ll stay with me as well.”

 

Even through the darkness, Hawkeye could see Mustang’s blinding smile. Despite her earlier reservations, she reached out and grabbed his hand. They fell asleep like that. hand in hand, peaceful expressions on their faces.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I meant to update sooner, but a lot of stuff got in the way. And my update schedule will probably be pretty erratic from now on, since a lot of things are happening in my life at the moment.


	7. Chapter 7

Mustang and Hawkeye set out early the next morning to find Scar. Before leaving they had breakfast with Hughes and Gracia, Elicia was still asleep. Nobody talked much, everybody was too absorbed in their own thoughts. After breakfast, Mustang went to Hughes’ room to borrow some clothes, while Hawkeye went to Gracia’s. They hadn’t changed out of what they’d been wearing in the hospital, and the clothes were starting to feel gross.

 

As Mustang tried on an old coat, Hughes pressed something into his hand. He turned it over in his hands, feeling the shape. It was a thin string with beads on it. Mustang was completely unsure of why Hughes had given it to him.

 

Hughes must have noticed his confusion since he laughed and explained. “It’s a bracelet. Elicia made it for her uncle Roy a few weeks ago as a good luck token. I don’t know exactly what you’re planning on doing, but knowing you, it’s probably dangerous. You’ll need all the luck you can get.”

 

Mustang smiled. He took the bracelet and slid it on to his wrist. It was large, so he had to loop it twice before it stopped falling off. “Tell Elicia thank you. And Hughes.” He paused, not wanting to give clue any hints of his impending death (no, not impending. Mustang would stop it), but not wanting to leave without saying  _ something _ . “I know that all of this is… weird, for lack of a better word. But I just want to say that I really am glad about all you’ve done for us.”

 

Hughes was silent for an uncomfortable amount of time. Mustang cursed himself. His best friend wasn’t in Investigations for nothing. He had definitely noticed that something was up. Finally, after what seemed like forever, Hughes spoke.

 

“Aw Ro- Mustang, never thought I’d see the day when you actually thanked me. Feels so good right now. Does the jacket fit.” Mustang nodded. He mentally sighed in relief that Hughes had decided to drop the subject. They left the room and walked to the door. As they got close, the sound of light conversation cued them into the fact that Hawkeye and Gracia were already waiting.

 

Mustang and Hawkeye quickly said their goodbyes. They made their way to the First Branch, deciding to walk the short distance.

 

“So what should we do about Scar? You know with his whole ‘YOUR FACE ASPLODE’ thing.” Mustang could imagine Hawkeye’s disapproving head shake at his words.

 

“Sir, as usual I’ll be guarding your back. I will intervene if necessary, but please, try not to do anything excessively reckless.” 

 

They walked for the next few minutes in comfortable silence. Finally the sound of the Lieutenant cocking a gun signaled Mustang that they were close. Mustang hadn’t realized that Hawkeye had a gun, but it made sense, she couldn’t really protect him without a weapon. She had probably borrowed it from Hughes, who was proficient with guns even though he preferred knives.

 

Mustang heard Hawkeye’s steps come to a halt, so he stopped as well. He could hear what sounded like a yelling match coming from a few feet away.

 

“You need to leave. This library is reserved for State Alchemists.”

 

“But I need to access your materials. It’s important!”   
  


“I’m sorry, but you’ll have to look somewhere else.” The sound of a door slamming echoed in the fairly empty street.

 

“Scar, 15 feet forwards.” Hawkeye whispered. That confirmed it, Scar was here. Mustang walked forwards about 12 feet and called out.

 

“Excuse me.”   
  


He heard Scar audibly suck in a breath. This wasn’t going to go well.

 

“The Flame Alchemist, and the Hawk’s Eye.” Mustang almost winced at the utter contempt in Scar’s tone.

 

“Yes. We come seeking your help.”

 

“I would never help you. You who murdered so many of my people.” Scar’s voice rose, he was not quite yelling, but he was close. 

 

Mustang started to prepare for a fight. He hadn’t managed to acquire a pair of ignition gloves, but his array scar hadn’t faded. If worst came to worst, he could find a discarded lighter or something. Plus, he now had the ability to use alchemy without transmutation circles. He was still pretty inexperienced with it, which made him uneasy, but he had always been a quick learner. Hopefully it wouldn’t come to that.

 

“You are completely right to feel this way, but this problem concerns more than us. It threatens everyone in our country, Amestrian and Ishvalan alike.”

 

“How can I trust a man whose hands are so stained with blood?”

 

“I regret what I did in Ishval every day. I aim to spend the rest of my life trying to atone for it.”

 

“You can never atone. You have committed an atrocity, it’s only fair that you should suffer a guilty conscience. I will never help someone like you.” Mustang heard Scar’s get up and start to walk away. As a last resort, he yelled out.

 

“Tell me something, do you remember two young doctors named Rockbell?” Mustang could immediately tell this was the wrong thing to say. Scar stopped walking and when he spoke next, his words were tense.

 

“I will not kill you now Flame Alchemist. Nor you Hawk’s Eye. I will not kill you because you do not deserve to go to God. But cross me again and you will see what I’m truly capable of.” 

 

The footsteps resumed, and Mustang could hear Hawkeye shift as she started to follow. He grabbed her arm to stop her.

 

“Leave him be. He has the right to feel how he does.”

 

“But Colonel, how will we defeat Father now? Without Scar’s Alchemy…”

 

“You said it yourself. We have each other, and that’s enough. Scar’s Alchemy-Alkahestry combination would’ve been useful, but we don’t absolutely need it to defeat the Father from our own time. Though we will need to find a way to ally with him to stop the whole Promised Day fiasco. Maybe after some time, he’ll realize for himself that this is bigger than the three of us. But one thing at a time.”

 

“Very well sir, shall we head back then?”

 

“Alright Lieutenant, lead the way.”


	8. Chapter 8

Riza never thought it’d happen, but she was actually glad to be back at work. Spending all day, every day in a hospital for two weeks had been grating. The monotony of white walls and bland food had made her long for any kind of change. So, for once, she’d been looking forward to going to work.

 

A few minutes after she’d walked in and taken her seat, the Colonel had called her into his office. She walked in and waited for him to speak.

 

“Please Lieutenant take a seat. Now what I’m about to tell you is a little… I don’t even know how to describe it. But I promise you that it’s the absolute truth.” He then proceeded to tell her one of the strangest tales she’d ever heard. About time traveling duplicates and a thousand year old conspiracy surrounding Amestris. If it was anyone else, Riza might have thought they were lying. But the Colonel would never lie about something as important as this. Not to her.

 

Finally Riza managed to collect herself enough to speak. “Alright sir. Am I dismissed?”

 

Roy looked surprised. “You’re taking this better than I expected.”  


“We’ve seen so many unbelievable things already. What’s one more?”

 

The Colonel was about to reply when his phone rang. He picked it up and an annoyed expression crossed his face.

 

“Hello Hughes. If you’re calling to brag about Gracia and Elicia, I’m hanging up.”

 

Riza could vaguely hear Hughes’ protests through the phone. After a few minutes Roy’s expression changed to one of concern.

 

“Are you sure? The Sewing-Life Alchemist?” He paused for a few seconds while Hughes replied.

 

“I see. We’ll get right on it.” He hung up the phone and turned back to Riza.

 

“Lieutenant, do you remember Shou Tucker?” Riza scanned her memories but couldn’t place the name.

 

“No sir.”

 

“He’s known as the Sewing-Life Alchemist. He only passed the State Alchemist exam recently. He did it by creating a chimera that understood human speech. Apparently all it said was ‘I want to die’ before refusing to eat and dying of starvation. According to Hughes, he created the chimera by using his wife.” Riza inwardly shuddered, to use someone in an experiment like that. That was the Devil’s work.

 

“Are we going to arrest him then?”

 

“Yes, but we’ll need to be stealthy. Tucker has a young daughter. You don’t have to come Lieutenant, you were just released from the hospital.” Roy had a soft look in his eyes, but Riza ignored it. She had a promise to keep.

 

“I’m fine Colonel. Besides, you need someone there to guard your back.”

 

* * *

 

Roy knocked on the door to the Tuckers’ manson. They had elected to go with the excuse of checking on Tucker’s Alchemy research. However, this meant that in order to keep their cover they couldn’t bring anyone else on their team along. The door opened and a large white dog jumped out. A small girl ran after him.

 

“Alexander!” She grabbed the dog and hugged him. A man came to the door. He matched the picture of Shou Tucker that had been in the file.

 

“Nina, I told you to keep Alexander inside.”

 

Riza was surprised. Tucker seemed so… normal. He didn’t look at all like someone who would experiment on his wife. But if Riza had learned anything at all during her years in the military, it was that appearances could be deceiving. Tucker turned to them.  


“Colonel Mustang, it’s a surprise to see you here.”

 

“I’m here to see how your research is progressing.” Tucker’s smile faltered for a second at the words.

 

“Of course. Come in, come in. Sorry for the mess, I haven’t had much time for cleaning since my wife left us.” Dishes were piled up in the sink, things were scattered on the floors, and the paint was peeling. It reminded Riza a lot of how her house had been growing up.

 

As Roy and Tucker made small talk, Riza walked around the room. She stopped when she felt a tug on her pant leg. She looked down to see Nina staring up at her. Riza crouched down so they were on the same level.

 

“Hello, I’m Riza Hawkeye.”

 

“Hi Miss Hawkeye. I’m Nina, and this is Alexander.” She pointed to the large white dog sitting next to her.

 

“Nina,” Riza lowered her voice, “Do you like it here?”

 

“Yeah, but I’m alone a lot now that Mama’s gone. Papa is never free to play with me.” Riza knew how the girl felt. Berthold Hawkeye had spent most of Riza’s early life stuck in his study, trying to decipher the secrets to flame alchemy. Until Roy had come, Riza had felt completely and utterly cut off from the world around her.

 

“Lieutenant.” Riza rose at the Colonel’s voice. She followed him to Tucker’s work area.

 

She stared in horrified fascination at the Chimeras that lined the walls. There must have been twenty of them, all made of differently combined animals.

 

“I believe I’m close to a breakthrough. I just need a little more time.” Tucker had a strange look in his eyes, and suddenly Riza could see the man who’d turned his own wife into a Chimera.

 

“Tucker, when did your wife leave?” The Colonel’s voice sounded genial. Only Riza could hear the steel that was under it.

 

“Earlier this year.”

 

“And when did you pass your State Alchemist exam.” Riza prepared to draw her gun.

 

“Earlier this year.”

 

“So, do you want to tell me what really happened to your wife.” Roy’s fingers were poised to snap.

 

“Damn, you figured it out. I hate people like you, too nosy for your own good.” Tucker smiled widely and clapped a hand against the wall. Riza coughed as smoke filled the room. There must have been an array there.

 

“Do you really want your daughter to grow up like this?” Roy called out from somewhere to Riza’s left.

 

“Before I became a State Alchemist, we were so poor. We could barely afford to eat. There’s no way I’m going back to that. No matter what.” Riza heard a scream. It sounded like a young girl’s.

 

“Papa what are you doing?” Riza’s stomach dropped. Nina.

 

“Try anything and she dies.” Tucker’s voice was as hard as diamond.

 

“She’s your daughter. Would you really harm her?” Roy sounded a tiny bit desperate. Riza tried to figure out what to do. If she shot, she had a chance of hitting Nina.

 

“I won’t lose my certification.” Tucker seemed to have lost whatever was left of his sanity. Riza grabbed for the wall and started to make her way towards his voice.

 

Suddenly her hand reached an indent. As she felt it, she realized it was a circular shape. It must have been the array. Riza took out her gun and rammed it into the wall, hoping to somehow break the array. After a minute of hitting the wall the smoke began to clear. She looked at the wall and saw that she’d broken the plaster in between two parts of the array.

 

Riza turned to face Tucker. He was standing in the middle of the room, forcefully holding his daughter’s arm. Nina had tears running down her face. Tucker yanked the girl in front of him and pulled out a knife. Riza didn’t hesitate. She fired, hitting Tucker in the head. He slumped to the ground, dead.

 

“Papa!” Nina shoved at Tucker. “Papa, wake up. Wake up.”

 

The Colonel went outside to notify Eastern Command of what had happened. Riza walked over to Nina and carefully picked her up. The girl sobbed in Riza’s arms, calling out for her father.


	9. Interlude: Nina

Nina’s papa was gone. That was what Miss Hawkeye had told her. Just like Nina’s mama, her papa was never going to come back. Miss Hawkeye took Nina outside to where her friend was standing next to a car. She remembered her father calling the man “Colonel” when he walked in.

 

Miss Hawkeye and Mister Colonel talked for a bit. Nina could only understand some of what they were saying.

 

“Colonel, the girl is clearly distraught. We can’t just leave her with the MPs.” Miss Hawkeye’s voice was gentle.

 

“Well what can we do? You know I’m fu- freaking horrible with children.” Mister Colonel sounded tired. Kinda like Nina’s papa did whenever he spent all night working on his very important research.

 

“We could send her to Hughes.”

 

“Yeah, that’s an idea. But traveling with the girl and her dog would be difficult. It’ll take at least a day to put arrangements together. Plus, we should give Hughes a breather after the whole future selves thing.” Mister Colonel waved his arms around.

 

“So where could she stay until then? Would any of the team be able to take her in for a while? I would, but Hayate isn’t fully trained yet. I’m not sure how he would react to Alexander.” Miss Hawkeye shifted Nina a little in her arms.

 

“Well Breda’s afraid of dogs, so that’s a no go. Fuery and Falman are on a mission. And Havoc is as great with kids as I am. And we need him acting as backup anyways. Hmmm. Ooh I’ve got it.” Mister Colonel snapped his fingers and there was a small spark from his gloves. “Fullmetal.”

 

“Edward? Are you sure he’d be the best choice to take care of a child?”

 

“Little kids love him for some reason. And Alphonse will gladly look after the dog. It’s perfect! Besides, it’ll only be for a day.”

 

“Alright sir.” Miss Hawkeye sounded doubtful.

 

They got in the car, Miss Hawkeye still holding Nina. Alexander was on the seat next to them. Mister Colonel started driving and complained about how it was going to take him  _ forever  _ to get all the dog hair out.

 

After a few minutes, they stopped in front of a tall building with the country’s symbol on it. They got out of the car and entered the building. Mister Colonel walked up to a big table and talked to the man behind it. Nina yawned, around now was when she’d normally be taking a nap.

 

Mister Colonel came back and they walked to one of the rooms in the building. Mister Colonel knocked, and a short, blonde boy opened the door. 

 

“What are you doing here, Colonel Basta-”

 

“Language Fullmetal. A child is present.” The boy looked at Nina and his eyes widened.

 

“What’s going on?”

 

“Let us in and we’ll explain.” The boy stepped away from the doorway, and they all went into the room.

 

The room was pretty normal looking. The only thing that stuck out was the suit of armor on the side. But then the armor moved and Nina realized there was a person inside it. 

 

They all sat down on the couch. Nina didn’t pay attention to the conversation. She was really tired. After a bit, Mister Colonel and Miss Hawkeye stood up. They went to the door and left. Nina would’ve followed them, but the couch was so comfortable and she was so sleepy. She laid down.  Within a few seconds, she was asleep.

* * *

Nina woke up to the smell of eggs. She suddenly remembered how hungry she was. She hadn’t eaten since Miss Hawkeye had visited. She sat up and the blanket that had been on her slid off.

 

She looked over and saw the small boy from earlier sitting next to her. He smiled.

 

“Oh good, you’re awake. I ordered us some food. I’m Edward and this,” He pointed to the armored person playing with Alexander, “is my little brother Alphonse.”

 

“Hello.” Alphonse’s voice sounded echoey.

Nina looked from Edward to Alphonse. She was confused. “If you’re the older brother, why are you smaller.”

 

Edward growled.

 

“Brother.” Alphonse warned.

 

Edward sighed and turned back to Nina. “Let’s eat.”

 

Nina nodded and grabbed the plate Edward handed her. As they ate, Edward and Alphonse told her stories. Apparently they were Alchemists like Nina’s papa. They traveled around the country and saved people. It sounded like a lot of fun.

 

After they were done, Nina fed the scraps to Alexander. She turned to her new big brothers.

 

“Let’s play!”

 

“I don’t think-” Edward started. Alphonse interrupted him.

 

“Come on brother.”

 

“Fine.” Edward sighed and got up. As soon as he got to his feet, Alexander jumped on him. Nina giggled.

 

“Oh that’s it, you dog.” Edward jumped up and chased Alexander outside. Alphonse gave Nina a piggy back ride as they followed. 

 

They played outside for a few hours and Nina felt happier than she had the whole day. This was the most she’d played with someone else since her mama had left. When she told Edward this, he got a far away look in his eyes. Nina wondered why.

 

After they were done playing, they went inside. Edward went to take a bath, leaving Alphonse, Nina, and Alexander alone. Nina tried not to think about her papa. But she missed him a lot. She wanted him back more than anything. 

 

“Nina what are you thinking about?” Alphonse asked gently.

 

“I wish Papa was here. I miss him.” She tried not to cry. She wasn’t a baby. She was a big girl.

 

“You know, brother and I also lost our parents. Our dad left us one day, and our mom died from sickness. I miss them as well, but you have to keep moving forward. It’s what your parents would want you to do.”

 

Nina went up to Alphonse and hugged him. She was glad she’d found two big brothers.

 

Edward walked back in, rubbing at his head with a towel. “Alright, who wants ice cream?”

 

“Ooh me!” Nina jumped up, her sadness forgotten.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Idk when the next chapter will be up bcuz my depression has decided to be like that™


End file.
